News > Robert Downey, Jr. to Play "Cowboys and Aliens"

Robert Downey, Jr. may find himself in the middle of a shootout between "Cowboys and Aliens" soon. The actor is in talks to join the cast of a "pulpy mix of the sci-fi and Western genres that could serve as a potential 2010 tentpole" (THR).

According to THR,

"Cowboys & Aliens" derives from a graphic novel written by Fred Van Lente and Andrew Foley from an original idea by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg. The story centers on an Old West battle between the Apache and Western settlers, including a former Union Army gunslinger named Zeke Jackson (Downey), that is interrupted by a spaceship crashing into the prairie near Silver City, Ariz.

The screenplay has passed through a great many hands including David Hayter ("Metal Gear Solid"), Jeffrey Boam ("Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade"), Joshua Oppenheimer ("Sahara"), Hawk Ostby and Mark Fergus ("Children of Men").

-David Morgan